Cow Hitch Sandal

ABSTRACT

A sandal comprising a sole, foot strap portion, and toe post portion. The toe post portion is an elongated material, similar to a rope, and forms cow hitch through a hole in the foot strap portion. The toe post portion is further attached to the sole through a hole in the sole. The foot strap portion crosses the wearer&#39;s foot, and attaches to the sole on both sides, left and right, of the sole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to footwear, and more particularly, toa sandal with a cow hitch.

Description of the Related Art

Sandals are an open type of footwear, consisting of a sole held to thewearer's foot by straps. People choose to wear sandals for severalreasons, with the most common reasons being comfort in warm weather,being economical, and as a fashion choice. As such, sandals haveimproved through the years with enhancements in comfort, performance,and safety.

One very popular strap design employed by sandals is holding a foot by anarrow thong that generally passes between the first and second toe.This narrow thong that passes between the first and second toe is alsocommonly referred to as the toe post. This type of sandals may also bereferred to as flip-flops. The Y-shaped strap that passes between thefirst and second toes, generally attaches to the sole at three points.The Y-shaped strap may be made of a single piece, or may be made from acombination of pieces, sometimes of varying materials that are attachedtogether.

There are various motivations for having different Y-shaped straps. Onereason is for fashion purposes. A Y-shaped strap may have decorativefeatures desired by the wearer. Another reason is for comfort. Usingcertain materials allow for more comfort than others. A third reason isfor manufacturing purposes. There is often a desire to simplify how amanufacturing is done, generally to reduce the cost of making thesandal. A fourth reason is for improving the sandal's durability.Sandals are simple by nature, and a common way of breaking is due tobroken straps.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A sandal with a sole, foot strap, and toe post is described herein. Insome embodiments, the foot strap is attached to a toe post through a cowhitch. The toe post, on the other end from the cow hitch, is attached tothe sole. In an embodiment, the foot strap is attached to the sole onboth the left and right sides of the sole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the advantagesthereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understoodby reference to the detailed description when considered in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sole of an embodiment of a cow hitchsandal.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a cow hitch sandalwithout the toe post.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an unassembled foot strap and toe postof an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a partially assembled foot strap and toepost of an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a partially assembled foot strap and toepost of an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a partially assembled foot strap and toepost of an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an assembled foot strap and toe post ofan embodiment of a cow hitch sandal.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a partially assembled embodiment of acow hitch sandal.

FIG. 9 is a bottom plan view of an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows the sole portion 100 of an embodiment of a cow hitchsandal. As with most sandals that employ a toe post, it has a toe posthole 110 to allow for the toe post to be held to the sole. The featuresdisplayed on the top of sole 100 are purely decorative. As is well knownto one skilled in the art, a sole may be comprised of a single layer, ormultiple layers, such as an insole, midsole, and outsole.

FIG. 2 shows the sole along with the foot strap portion 200 of anembodiment of a cow hitch sandal. In this embodiment, the sole has adecorative logo 240 at the heel. In this embodiment, the foot strapportion 200 is comprised of a foot strap cross portion 230 and a footstrap center portion 210. The foot strap center portion 210 has a footstrap center portion hole 220 for attaching to a toe post. The footstrap portion 200 generally goes across the top of the wearer's foot tohold against the wearer's foot, and may come in a variety of shapes,sizes and with various ornamental features. The foot strap cross portion230 has two ends, wherein the one end is attached to the sole on theleft and the other end is attached to the sole on the right. Theattachment to the sole may be achieved through a variety of well-knownmeans to one skilled in the art, such as with adhesives or stitchinginto the sole. The ends of the foot strap cross portion 230 may attachto the sole at the outer edge of the sole, or somewhere through the topface of the sole. The foot strap center portion 210 attaches to the footstrap cross portion 230 via stitching in this embodiment. In otherembodiments, the foot strap center portion 210 may attach to the footstrap cross portion 230 through other means, such as being a singlepiece, using an adhesive, or looping over.

FIGS. 3-7 demonstrate how the toe post portion 300 is attached to thefoot strap portion 200 in an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal. FIG. 3shows the foot strap 200 detached from the sole, along with the toe postportion 300. In FIG. 3, the toe post portion 300 is simply laid out toshow the material, which in this embodiment is comprised of a semi-flatfabric material and is an elongated material, similar to a rope. The toepost portion 300 may be comprised of a variety of materials, some ofwhich may include properties that make it elastic and/or comfortable forthe wearer. A sample material for the toe post is spandex or a starchyfabric.

FIG. 4 demonstrates how the toe post portion 300 has its two ends placedthrough the foot strap center portion hole 220 from the bottom. In otherembodiments, the toe post portion may have its two ends placed throughthe foot strap center portion hole from the top. Also, a loop is formedby the toe post portion below the strap center portion hole 220. Then,as shown in FIG. 5, the two ends of the toe post portion 300 are placedthrough this loop. FIG. 6 then shows how the ends of the toe postportion 300 are pulled to form a cow hitch, as shown in FIG. 7. A commonalternate name for a cow hitch is lark's head. In other embodiments,there may be variations of the cow hitch that are utilized for attachingthe toe post portion 300 to the foot strap portion 200. The underlyingcow hitch structure can be formed and used in a variety of ways. Thesevariations are differentiated by methods used to form the knot and theway in which it is loaded. In particular, the knot can be formed with anend of the toe post portion, in a closed loop or strap, or a combinationof these two in which it is tied with the end and then formed into aloop by securing the free end to the starting point.

The advantages of a cow hitch are numerous. One advantage is the visualappearance, which leaves a clean knot. A more important advantage is howwell it secures the toe post portion of the foot strap portion. A cowhitch is more resistant to loosening than other forms of knots. Whenthere is opposite directional force on the ends of the toe post portionand the foot strap portion, which occurs when the sandal is being wornand further occurs when the wearer is walking, the cow hitch furthertightens.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal, wherein the toe postportion 300 is attached to the foot strap portion 200 via a cow hitch700, and the ends of the toe post portion 300 are placed through thesole's 100 toe post hole 110. This allows for the toe post 300 to besecured to the sole 100. FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of the bottom of thesole 100, and demonstrates how the ends of the toe post 300 are affixedto the sole 100. As shown in the sectional view 900, the ends of the toepost 300 are affixed to the sole after going through the sole's toe posthole 110. These toe post ends 300 may be affixed using a variety ofwell-known methods, such as with an adhesive, clamping, knotting, orstitching.

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of a cow hitch sandal, wherein the footstrap portion 200 and toe post portion 300 are all completely assembledto form a completed sandal.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with respectto certain embodiments and examples, variations and modifications existwhich are within the scope of the present invention as defined in thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sandal comprising: a sole; a foot strap portioncomprised of a foot strap cross portion and foot strap center portion;and a toe post portion wherein said toe post portion is attached to saidfoot strap center portion through a cow hitch, and said toe post portionis attached to said sole through a toe post hole in said sole.
 2. Thesandal of claim 1 wherein said foot strap cross portion attaches to saidsole at both the left edge of the sole and right edge of the sole. 3.The sandal of claim 1 wherein said toe post portion is comprised ofspandex.
 4. The sandal of claim 1 wherein said foot strap cross portionand foot strap center portion are attached through stitching.
 5. Thesandal of claim 1 wherein said foot strap cross portion and foot strapcenter portion are one piece.